1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for reducing power consumption in a manipulating system consisting of a manipulating apparatus and an electronic apparatus wirelessly connected to the manipulating apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there have been technologies for reducing power consumption of digital cameras and, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-50124 discloses a technology for stopping image display if no manipulation is performed for a predetermined period of time during displaying an image on an LCD of a digital camera and resuming the image display if a power switch or a display switch is manipulated in the state where the image display is being stopped. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-165842 discloses a technology for determining that a camera is being used if a user changes the camera's position vertically or horizontally to decide composition even though the camera is not manipulated a predetermined period of time and disabling an auto power off function of the camera.
However, the above technologies consider only use patterns of general digital cameras. Thus, in the case of applying these technologies to a camera apparatus consisting of an imaging unit including picture-taking lenses and imaging elements and a manipulating unit including a monitor and a manipulating switch and functioning as a manipulating system for enabling manipulation of the imaging unit from the manipulating unit by wireless, there occurs a problem that they do not necessarily reduce power consumption effectively. This is because use patterns of the camera apparatus which is provided with the manipulating unit outside the imaging unit are different from those of general digital cameras and the camera apparatus is often used in a unique state where the imaging unit and the manipulating unit are separated at the time of taking pictures.